This is the annual JD Church Memorial episode, and Brian remembers the friend who talked him into bringing Radio Free Cybertron back in 2009. The news is heavy too: Wally Burr, the voice director who shaped the sound of the G1 cartoon, has passed away at 91. The SDCC Revolution set brings ROM, Leoric and Action Man alongside a Legends Jetfire, and Power of the Primes is set for its SDCC reveal. Fans Toys shows Terminus Giganticus finished. Plus listener survey results and the return of What We Got This Week.
Remembering JD Church
Brian started Radio Free Cybertron in October 1999 and kept it consistent until about 2002 or 2003. From then until 2008, episodes were spotty. In 2009, JD Church messaged Brian on Facebook, asking him to bring the show back because JD wanted to podcast. Brian said he would if a Facebook page got 50 likes, and it did in about a day.
The first relaunch episodes in June 2009 were just Brian and JD, before Exvee and John came back into the fold. JD passed away in February 2014 from an infection he had had for a while. Brian calls it one of the worst things that has ever happened to him. He says JD lit up any room, real or on Skype, and made the show better. He encourages newer listeners to find JD’s 2012 and 2013 episodes in the archive, along with his Superhero Time appearances.
Brian also notes that longtime listener John Garcia, who has been listening since late 1999, joined him for an episode of Get the Skinny.
How Big Is the Third-Party Audience?
After a viewer took issue with a joke about only seven people buying third-party Monster Bots, Brian ran the numbers from Hasbro’s earnings. He estimates about 50,000 units per deluxe release and 100,000 to 150,000 serious adult collectors. That suggests about 10,000 serious third-party collectors worldwide. Exvee thinks about half the third-party audience is in mainland Asia and Hong Kong. A typical third-party run is probably 1,000 units or fewer, with hits reaching 3,000 to 3,500. The crew stresses this is rough guesswork.
This Week in History
On July 12, 1992, 25 years to the day, the English dub of Headmasters premiered in Malaysia. Don loves the dubs and calls them his favorite thing in Transformers. The rest of the crew rolls their eyes.
News
Official Details: Revolution Comic Crossover Mega-Set SDCC Exclusive
The $100 San Diego Comic-Con set includes a Legends-style Jetfire without chrome. Alongside him are Matt Trakker, ROM, Leoric from Visionaries, Roadblock, Action Man and a Dire Wraith. One host is thrilled by the first new Leoric figure in 30 years, even without holograms. The crew debates which G.I. Joe character would have sold the set better. John and Don covered the set in an emergency mini-cast. [Source: TFormers]
Legendary G1 Voice Director Wally Burr Passes Away at 91
Wally Burr directed the voices of the Transformers cartoon and The Transformers: The Movie, and the crew credits him with how the show sounded. Don met him around 2003, when he sold animation art for a convention charity. One host notes that Peter Cullen and Frank Welker still voice Optimus and Megatron much as Burr directed them. Another credits Burr for getting varied performances, like Chris Latta’s Starscream, that later imitations miss. The crew wishes his family the best. [Source: TFormers]
SDCC 2017: Power of the Primes to Be Revealed at the Hasbro Panel
Next week’s show moves to Thursday to cover the reveal. One host just wants to learn the line’s gimmick. Based on the Combiner Wars and Titans Return pattern, the crew expects the first waves around January. [Source: TFormers]
Fans Toys Terminus Giganticus Instructions and Final Product Images
The unofficial Omega Supreme has been dubbed absurd scale, dwarfing even Fans Toys’ Phoenix. Diecast is getting one. One host calls shipping it in two parts the dumbest idea ever, since the first box lacks the parts for a full track. Others defend the split as a shipping necessity and note that one retailer is holding orders to ship both halves together. [Source: TFormers]
Unique Toys Shows New Palm Collection Prototypes
The Legends-sized unofficial Headmasters include a Cerebros head, which hints at a Fortress Maximus body to match. The prototypes look 3D printed. [Source: TFormers]
Wonder Woman Defeats Optimus Prime: The Last Knight Falls to 5th
The Last Knight took about $6 million in its third weekend, while Wonder Woman out-earned it in its sixth week. The crew calls the drop ridiculous. [Source: TFormers]
The Last Knight Bumblebee Evolution Three-Pack Confirmed
An Amazon UK listing prices the set at 65 pounds. It includes the 2007 and Age of Extinction classic Camaro molds plus The Last Knight’s Wave 3 deluxe Bumblebee. [Source: TFormers]
Bumblebee Movie Gets $22 Million to Film in California
The tax credit requires the movie to film exclusively in California. [Source: TFormers]
Jorge Lendeborg Jr. May Take Lead in Bumblebee Movie
Lendeborg appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Word that the film will feature fewer robots and more human character development worries one host. Another wants to give a new director and production concept a chance. [Source: TFormers]
Legends Bumblebee, Slugslinger, Perceptor and Octone Stock Photos
Takara’s Legends Bumblebee includes Sparkle in an exosuit, with a clear head back-painted with a face. Up close it looks like RoboCop with his helmet off. Octone gets a good deco and a clear ghost of Starscream Titan Master, and the shoulder stacks flip up to look like Starscream’s intakes. One host canceled his Hasbro Octane preorder for it. [Source: TFormers]
Takara Tomy Reissues the 2010 Predaking Box Set
One host would take the original deco over the 2010 colors any day. The crew notes these may be scarcer in Japan than they were at US discount. [Source: TFormers]
Takara Tomy Legends Reissue Poll Results
Blurr, Wheelie with Goshooter, Fortress Maximus and Chromedome return in mid-December. Jetfire, Arcee, Windblade, the Combiner Wars Leader Megatron and Ultra Magnus follow in 2018. One host calls it a second chance for anyone who missed Blurr and Wheelie. [Source: TFormers]
Listener Survey Results
Thanks to everyone who answered the survey. Don won the desert island vote with 27%. Most listeners are in their 30s and 40s, many both watch and listen, and less than a third use Apple Podcasts. Listeners like the veteran viewpoints, the chemistry and that the show is family friendly. Dislikes include affiliate plugs, snark, mic technique and both too much and too little third-party and Bayformers talk. Brian explains that the show takes no ads or Patreon money, so Amazon links help cover costs of thousands of dollars a year. He brings back What We Got This Week and plans to revive Transformers Rewind. He would also like more comics talk and more from John and Rob.
What We Got This Week
Diecast got Weijiang’s Titans Return Skullcruncher, with an oddly white head, and Hardhead. A Masterpiece Bumblebee from Taobao arrived missing a screw, so the head pops off when the battle mask is used. He also got Fans Toys Spindrift, an unofficial Seaspray that he calls a solid, fun figure. He also has a large non-transforming Takara figure with only four points of articulation.
Don got the Toys R Us Skullitron and might return it because of floppiness reports. He also got the recolored Generations Megatron stealth bomber, which he bought once he saw the colors in person.
Matt got the e-Hobby Magna Convoy in blue with a sword. It has some chrome, but the joints feel great on an 11-year-old mold.
Brian got The Last Knight Voyager Megatron. The joints are tight and the details are nice, though he balked at $30 a Voyager.
Chris has Trypticon on the way for next week.
Radio Free Cybertron is the world's first and oldest toy and action figure podcast — broadcasting from the heart of the Transformers fan community since October 1999. What started as a scrappy fan show has grown into an institution, with nearly 1,000 episodes and over 25 years of coverage. Every week, host Brian Kilby and the RFC crew dig into the latest Transformers news, toy reveals, collecting, and everything hitting shelves from Hasbro, Takara, and beyond. No fluff, no hype — just informed, passionate collectors who have been doing this longer than anyone else on the planet. The original. The longest running. Till all are one.
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